Bandwidth’s new phone number ordering experience

We’re always listening to our customers. We welcome their feedback on what we’re doing that they like and what they’d like to see us do. One of the biggest pieces of feedback we’ve received lately (and one that we totally agreed with) was that our number ordering experience needed an update.

Given that our number ordering hadn’t really changed in the last 6 years, we agreed that it was time for an update, both for the user experience and because technology, in general, has changed over the years.

When we dug in, we found out that our customers were spending between 12 and 17 minutes per order. When you have multiple orders to complete, 12 to 17 minutes is a long time!  What if it could be faster? What if we could automate more of the processes that customers were doing manually?

On top of that, we also found that customers were submitting some orders that were relatively small, and they had to do that multiple times. It still took the same amount of time as a large order. This just didn’t make sense.

We also found that our customers weren’t always sure what numbers they needed. They would have to search, look at the numbers, search again, maybe download a spreadsheet, run a report, and finally make a decision. Again, this process wasn’t being helped any by our interface.

With that in mind, we collected what our users had been asking for, looked at how companies were using our number ordering dashboard, and are now rolling out a new way to order phone numbers from Bandwidth.

Multiple Search Criteria

When you’re placing orders, you often need to use more than one type of search criteria. Under our current system, you can only use one, such as saying you want numbers in Raleigh, NC. Our new number ordering experience will allow you to input multiple criteria, returning results that match all of them. Need numbers in Denver, CO AND some that match a 910 area code? No problem! Order them at the same time in the same order.

Better Number Review Before Ordering

Let’s be honest — Amazon has a pretty good cart for ordering things. You can see what you’ve added, decide if you want it all, need to add some more, or just want to abandon the whole thing. We thought it was a pretty nice setup, so we mimicked that.

Now, once you’ve added numbers to your cart you’ll have more options during the review process. Add more numbers, get rid of others, abandon the cart, or move to check-out with what you’ve selected.

Suggested Search

Having a rough idea of what you need, or a really long search string, can make inputting that information frustrating. Our new number ordering experience will start showing you suggestions based on what you input.

For example, type in the number 91 and you’ll start getting results for the “919” area code or any matching zip code. Keep typing and as you make adjustments to your search, you’ll get results than you can then select without having to type in the entire search query, saving you time, and helping you to find what you need, even if you don’t really know what you’re looking for.

But Wait, There’s More!

You didn’t really think that was going to be it, did you? Our team has been hard at work to add all the features you’ve been asking for. So what else have we added

• You can now filter based on rate tier, local calling area, area code, or rate center, with the amount of available numbers for each criterion returned
• Can backorder numbers from your cart. As they become available, they’ll be added to your account
• Can search by city, state, ZIP, or exchange
• Can search for a block of numbers
• Can search by LATA
• Can drag and select large groups of numbers; no more clicking each. Individual. Number you want
• Can search for both regular (local) and toll-free numbers

Learn More

Want to see the new dashboard in action? Check out this video we made.

We also hosted a webinar yesterday to unveil our new ordering experience, and if you missed it (or just want to rewatch it), you can check it out here.